In 1879, Ponca Chief Standing Bear (Ma-chú-nu-zhe) was the defendant in a U.S. court case that led to legal recognition of American Indians as people. NMAI N34913


pitting some of these nations against others. The Oneida and Mohawk even fought each other in a pitched battle. In a heroic attempt to end the bloodshed, two Mohawk and two Oneida leaders traveled to the British-held bastion of Fort Niagara in 1779. These aged chiefs, one well into his 70s, carried a let- ter from American General Philip Schuyler requesting a truce to initiate a prisoner ex- change. The letter guaranteed safe passage for the British to attend a future meeting in rebel-held Albany. However, the four Iroquois emissaries had a different objective: to restore peace in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. All four—Oneida chiefs Good Peter and Skenandoah who were allied to the Patriot cause and Mohawk chiefs Little Abraham and Johannes Crine who espoused neutrality— were arrested and incarcerated in the dismal military jail at the fort. Little Abraham, the apparent leader of the delegation, perished as a prisoner of war in Fort Niagara’s black hole, a 4-by-4-foot underground, windowless cell. The four Haudenosaunee were not the first


or last to act as spokesmen for peace. Indeed, this role is set forth in “Gayanashagowa,” the Great Binding Law of the confederacy. In tradi- tional beliefs Deganiwidah, the prophet known as Peacemaker, came from his home in Huronia to stem the internecine bloodshed among Mo- hawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca villages. Through the Peacemaker’s efforts and the great oratory of his disciple Hiawatha, they were able to establish the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on the principle of peace. Indeed, the Haudenosaunee—who span


both sides of the United States–Canada boundary—have


frequently brought their


complaints before international forums such as the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzer- land. In the 1920s, Chief Levi General, known as Deskaheh, was from the Grand River Terri- tory in Canada and attempted to bring action against the Canadian government. Among other issues, Deskaheh insisted that the Ca- nadian government had interfered in Haude- nosaunee traditional affairs, specifically in its efforts to impose an elected council on the people of the Six Nations Reserve (which was ultimately done in 1924). Canada, complained Deskaheh, had also violated Indian border- crossing rights guaranteed in the Jay Treaty of 1794. From Deskaheh’s death in 1925 onward, the Haudenosaunee have continued to bring their concerns before international organiza- tions such as the United Nations. At times, the Haudenosaunee were joined


by the Hopi of the Southwest, whose pacifism is rooted in their religious beliefs. The Hopi have


12 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2020


PHOTO BY WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON


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